July 18, 2012

Start: Holiday Inn Express, Fort Montgomery, NY

We finally escaped from the Holiday Inn Express!! We woke up, ate the delicious breakfast at the hotel, and took the shuttle to the Palisades Parkway information center, where we had left the trail. We walked along the parkway for .4 miles and started our climb up West Mountain. It was HOT and HUMID. The news said today was going to be 93 degrees and 60% humidity. We were definitely feeling that! The climb was a nice gradual climb ascending 500 feet over a mile, but with the heat and humidity, we felt our energy draining! Once at the summit, we sat for about 10 minutes to try to regain some energy. Off in the distance, you could hear a lot of gun shots. A southbounder told us that West Point was having some kind of artillery ceremony. It sounded like we were at war! We came down a bit and then started our ascent up Bear Mountain. On our way up, we saw a beautiful doe just to the side of the trail. She let us get within 4 feet of her. It was even too hot for the deer to run! Bear Mountain was a friendly climb with a lot of rock steps. We reached the top with bald ledges and then.... There was loud thunder! The storm was about 10 miles away, but we knew we needed to get off the bald summit. We moved quickly to the nearest tree cover that was slightly lower than the summit. We quickly pitched the tent and jumped in to stay as protected as possible. It was the scariest half hour of my life. Thunder was so loud that the entire ground was shaking. Lightening was striking all around us. I noticed Brian laying there with his fingers crossed, hoping that would deter the lightening from striking us. I was thinking "Please don't hit us. Please don't hit us. Please don't hit us.". Finally, after what seemed to be forever, the storms passed and were off in the distance. We packed up the tent and continued in the rain about a half mile to the Perkins Tower on Bear Mountain. Just before the tower, about a dozen wild turkey crossed the trail. Many of them were young. Very cool. Since the storms seemed to be calming down and we had about 2 miles to get to the Bear Mountain Zoo, we decided to keep moving and skipped the vending machines that were at the tower (vending machines that appear in the woods are a hikers dream!). We started the descent down Bear Mountain. This part of the trail is beautiful and my feet's favorite part of the trail so far. It was made of many smooth stone steps that are spaced like a normal staircase and a gravel walkway. There was even a chair made out of rocks to look out at the gorgeous view of the Hudson River and the Bear Mountain Bridge. Just before we reached the Bear Mountain Recreation Center I spotted a 5 foot black snake on the side of the trail. Brian had walked right over it!! Once we reached the recreation center, the storms started again. We felt much safer at this elevation, so we walked to the zoo. The official trail goes right through the zoo. The lowest point on the AT is at 124 feet above sea level and is right in front of the bear cage. It was a very emotional experience to walk through a zoo. We have encountered many of these animals in their natural habits. It made me sad to see them behind bars. I imagine that they must feel as trapped as I do when I'm not on the trail. They are some gorgeous animals. We saw coyotes, bears, foxes, and many others. After we left the zoo, we decided to call it a day. We had only hiked about 9 miles, but the heat, humidity, and storms wore us out. We set up camp in an unmarked stealth site and are just about ready for bed. Looking forward to a less humid day tomorrow!

End: Unmarked Campsite, NY

Peace Be The Journey
~Flicka